- The key to success in any ventureis getting the right people aligned and on board.It's the same with RPA programs.In fact in my experience, RPA requiresa greater level of cooperation than usual so heed this call.The key to RPA success is collaboration and communication.If there's one area where I spenda lion's share of my time,it's here, helping firms design their teams,select the right players, develop the capabilitiesand organize centers of excellence.

Let's review the key stakeholders you'll want involved.At the highest level,we'll discuss business stakeholders and IT stakeholders.Let's look first at the business and process side.One role you'll always see isthe Subject Matter Expert or SME.SMEs are the employees who are expertsat the process you're automating.They know the process inside and outand it's their job to teach the RPA team what each step isand then validate that all the relevant informationhas been captured faithfully.

The SME also plays a critical role later onin user acceptance testing.Now in some deployment scenarios,the SMEs are the RPA team.Enterprises have the SMEs learn an RPA tooland then automate their own processes.This individual do-it-yourself approach much likethe era of Excel macros is not something I generally suggestunless the initiative is highly structuredand governed and closely managed.When working at the granular level of complex processes,validation from all parties involved is crucial.

This is why team leads or similar roleslike process owners are important.Team leads are the people who manage the SMEs.They often provide a higher level of process validation.Team leads also support by helping collect process metricsusing their expertise to ensure that the needsof the business are met.Then we have your project managers.Like any other business project, these stakeholdershelp interface and communicate all things project-related.Project managers are essential to facilitate progressduring development and to handleimportant issues when they're raised.

Now as I mentioned, your IT teamis another critical set of stakeholders.I always emphasize the importanceof early IT involvement and it's for a good reason.You don't want to surprise your IT team here.From my experience, senior IT managerscan be skeptical of RPA and will have lotsof questions about how it interfaceswith the existing technologyand complies with their security standards and protocols.So I repeat, IT stakeholdersmust be involved at the earliest stages of an RPA program.

There are several rolesthat may be relevant to your initiative.One is infrastructure support staff.This team is responsible for running the serversand machines that RPA requires,making sure that the automated solutionhas a stable environment in which to operate.Similarly, application-specific personnelare responsible for the upkeep and developmentof individual software applications in play.Information security personnelare always good to have in the loop as well.RPA often requires interactions between user accountsand the transfer of potentially sensitive data.

As a result, including them in discussionscan help the RPA team alignto security protocols and minimize risks.Then you need to consider who will maintainthe RPA solution once live.Whether this is handled by an internal center of excellenceor you choose to outsource this to an externalservice provider, looping them in is conduciveto a smooth handoff of responsibilities.Of course, don't forget to keep project sponsorsand executives in the loop.After all, it's probably their budgets you're spending.

So they'll want to know it's being spent well.With all of these different stakeholders in mind,it's even more important for each personto have a good understanding of RPAand ensure that stakeholders understandthe benefits of RPA and how it can helpto streamline processes and control costs.One way to accomplish this might beto get them to watch this course.It's what we designed it for and remember,your primary role is education.While robotic process automation has been a brilliant a nameto gain the attention of a massive global market,it does still confuse people into thinking ofrobotic arms on shop floorsor see C-3PO handling your accounting.

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Released

10/25/2018

Robotic process automation—software-based robotics that emulate work that people do—is poised to change the way we work. Using this exciting technology, organizations can digitize and transform an array of business processes and functions. In this course, instructor Ian Barkin takes a deep dive into RPA, explaining what it is, what it's not, and what to keep in mind when adopting it in your organization. Here, Ian shares information that can help a variety of stakeholders—from executives to IT professionals—grasp the key benefits of RPA, as well as best practices that can help their organization succeed at both the process and enterprise levels. Plus, he lends a real-world context to the concepts covered in this course by providing examples from global companies that are implementing RPA.